burn out
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.52 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To become nonfunctional (especially of lightbulbs or similar light-producing devices).
Intransitive verb
verb
To cause (someone) to tire due to overwork; to cause (someone) to overwork to one's limit.
Transitive verb
verb
To make (someone) unavailable for work involving exposure to ionizing radiation by employing (the person) in such work until the person's accumulated exposure reaches the maximum permitted for an administrative period, typically a year.
Example Sentences
- "All four engines and the entire train were derailed, and owing to the fact that all the vehicles except the sleeping cars were gas-lit, the whole of the coaching stock except the two rear brakes was burned out, beginning with the two front coaches, which were completely wrecked."
- "The candle finally burned out."
- "1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome.""
- "After six months of twelve-hour workdays, most people just burn out and quit."
- "I start my shift at three in the afternoon, and get to burn out at midnight."
- "The repairs on this nuclear reactor have burned out every welder in the province."